The world of printing and publishing might be said to have started with Johannes Gutenberg, who was born about 1397 in the Palatinate. Arguably, this was the most important invention of the second millennium. (Some might argue for gunpowder, but I prefer the peaceful emphasis.) An employee of Gutenberg hit upon the idea of publishing a list of the books that were for sale. Volume production was a contribution of Martin Luther, who felt compelled to place religious works, especially Bibles, in the hands of as many people as he could. In itself, this was an impetus to literacy. By 1618, the date of the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, all of the elements of modern printing were in place. A number of improvements remained to be made, but the Germans contributed their fair share.
In the eighteenth century, German-American printers and authors were established in America. In the 1740's, the largest printing job, to that date in America, was done by a group of German-Americas at Ephrata, a German religious colony in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. They published 1200 copies of the " Martyr's Mirror ", a history of several thousand Anabaptists who had been killed in Switzerland and Holland. Perhaps you have an image of the large family Bibles which were popular some time ago. The Martyr's Mirror was equally large. (The Hans Herr House has a copy on display, and, when I ask visitors to guess where it was printed, I get answers ranging from Germany to London to Philadelphia. Those who have visited the Ephrata Cloister are equally surprised, for nothing about the primitive conditions there suggest that it was a "printing factory", which shows again how hard it sometimes is for Germans to get the recognition they deserve.)
To aid in recognizing some of our German-America writers, here are some names:
Not all of these authors died in America.
The editors and critics don't have the name recognition that the authors do, nor are there as many listed. The Oakes (originally Ochs) were known as newspaper publishers.
Journalists are well represented. Theodore Dreiser was both a journalist and a novelist. John Gunther reported on his travels over the world, including "
Inside USA
". Those of you of my age cannot forget Hans V. Kaltenborn, Arthur Krock, and Walter Lippmann. Henry L. Mencken was notorious for his defense of the Germans in both World Wars. He did find time to critically review two thousand books, besides writing thirty books himself.
(04 Aug 00)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.